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Cuttle was a veteran sapper, from Li Heng. Fiddler described him as "a burlier, more miserable version of Hedge".[1] Cuttle was also described as squat and blunt-featured, with a scarred, pitted face. He wore a leather cap and a random collection of boiled leather fittings over a threadbare stained uniform, the magenta of which was so faded it was almost mauve.[2]

His older brothers had died defending the walls of Li Heng.

In Deadhouse Gates

Cuttle was in Coltaine's 7th Army during the Whirlwind uprising and accompanied the Chain of Dogs on their journey across Seven Cities. He reported to Captain Mincer. During the Battle of Sekala Crossing, Cuttle was the sapper who blew up the road his company had built under the Sekala river killing thousands of Kamist Reloe's soldiers.[3]

In House of Chains

It was revealed that Cuttle was one of the few to survive the Chain of Dogs because he had been wounded by a spear through the shoulder and had then been evacuated to Aren on board the Silanda.[4]

Adjunct Tavore Paran arrived in Aren with the newly formed Malaz 14th Army to take back Seven Cities from the rebels. Cuttle arrived late to the initial unruly assembling of the 14th Army's 8th Legion. He had just been released from jail because he had snapped the neck of Lenestro in revenge for the latter's actions on the Chain of Dogs. He had also wanted Pullyk Alar, but the noble had slipped out of town with Mallick Rel before the sapper could find them. Cuttle and Fiddler (who went by the name of 'Strings' at the time) recognised each other and between them got the soldiers of the 8th Legion in line through the use of munitions.[5]

Cuttle joined Fiddler's 8th Legion, 9th Company, 4th squad. As a veteran amongst recruits, he was the only soldier in the squad Fiddler did not have to worry about. Cuttle's task was keeping the rest of the recruits alive when Fiddler was not close by. The Chain of Dogs veteran had little doubt that their expedition would be less successful than even Coltaine's. He only hoped to kill Korbolo Dom and Kamist Reloe first.[6]

At Vathar Crossing, Cuttle and Fiddler used Moranth munitions to clear the debris blocking the river's ford.[7] During an ambush of Leoman's desert warriors, Cuttle amused himself by leaving a lit Sharper in a prone opponent's lap. But he was amazed when Corabb clamped a helmet over the bomb, bounced into the air with the force of its explosion, and escaped.[8]

In the aftermath of the Battle of Raraku, Lieutenant Ranal led the 4th squad in pursuit of rebel horse warriors fleeing Raraku. Against Fiddler's advice, Ranal ordered the squad to continue the chase into an approaching sandstorm.[9] Using the sandstorm as cover, Corabb's warriors turned and ambushed their pursuers. Corabb stumbled into Fiddler in the maelstrom, accidentally pulling free the sapper's entire supply of munitions and triggering their fuses. Ranal was killed in the huge explosion that followed. The blood-spattered Cuttle reported the Lieutenant's death to Fiddler, saying that he was 'wearing' Ranal.[10]

In The Bonehunters

Cuttle was one of the group of soldiers who survived the Last Siege of Y'Ghatan by escaping through tunneling their way out from under the city.[11]

Quotes

"The man was a walking plague of the spirit... But then, what army didn’t have them? Sour, stone-eyed, using their every breath to bitch. He used to admire soldiers like that, the ones who’d seen it all and were still waiting to be impressed. The ones who looked at a recruit’s face as if studying a death-mask. Now, he realized, he despised such soldiers."
Bottle regarding Cuttle[src]

Notes and references

  1. House of Chains, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.413
  2. House of Chains, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.373/374
  3. Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 10, US HC p.268
  4. House of Chains, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.377
  5. House of Chains, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.373-378
  6. House of Chains, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.413/415/427
  7. House of Chains, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.546-547
  8. House of Chains, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.640-641
  9. House of Chains,Chapter 26, UK MMPB p.994-996
  10. House of Chains,Chapter 26, UK MMPB p.1001
  11. The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.447
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